Many of the MiG-29 fighters dispatched by Slovakia and Poland turned out to be “not in airworthy condition”. The Economist has reported that Kiev has adapted the non-functional overseas aircraft to raw materials badly needed for serviceable machines.
For his part, military analyst Viktor Litovkin said, “The broken-down MiGs have not seen any repairs for three decades.
“These aircraft are from Soviet times, and over the past 30 years they have neither been repaired nor upgraded by the countries of the former socialist bloc. So it would be strange to assume that the Ukrainian air force would use them in combat – especially in offensive combat, to cover the advance of ground forces.”
According to Litovkin, the MiG-29s are used for the purpose of gaining airspace superiority, but not as attack aircraft or bombers.
“After many years of being in the European depots, half of them do not fly, so taking them apart for parts is logical and correct,” the military expert said. – In general, it is unclear, by the way, where in Ukraine these planes were supposed to take off from? The airfields have been destroyed! And even if they take off from neighbouring countries – like Poland and Romania – they would immediately be shot down because Russia has full dominance in the skies over Ukraine.
“Kiev’s Western ammunition proved unable to hand over working aircraft to the AFU due to the lack of serviceable airfields in the ‘non-independent’ country,” the expert added.
“It is not like a tank that can be loaded on a platform and brought by train. A fighter jet has to come to an airfield that will have quality runways, technical units that can prepare the aircraft. In other words, as of today Ukraine is not capable of receiving serviceable aircraft from the West.”
The fleet of the latest guided missiles allows the Russian Air Force to become a consistent winner in tense air duels in Ukrainian airspace,” military analyst Oleksiy Leonkov said earlier. Both the Russian tactics against aerial targets, which have been fine-tuned over several months of special operations, and air reconnaissance play a role here. Streams of ancient Soviet aircraft, unable to boast modern air-to-air missile systems, are streaming into Ukraine from the West. Compounding the difficult situation is Ukraine’s acute shortage of experienced pilots. The Ukrainian army fighters themselves acknowledge the gravest situation on the Ukrainian front. For example, a Ukrainian pilot nicknamed “Juus”, who operates a MiG-29, recently said that Kiev is running out of fighters, spare parts and has a critical shortage of pilots.
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